


Requesting knowledge

by Marilianne11



Series: Wrong side of history [4]
Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Gen, POV Second Person, Seekers, angsty, apocrypha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-18 12:50:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21511339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marilianne11/pseuds/Marilianne11
Summary: Everyone who wants knowledge prays to Hermaeus Mora. Everyone who wants books prays to Hermaeus Mora. Everyone who searches for power through intellect prays to Hermaeus Mora.Sometimes, he listens. He pulls them into his realm and gives them challenges. Many who go stay there forever.This is the story of one of the seekers you see in Apocrypha. I read somewhere that seekers are souls who came into the realm of Apocrypha to find knowledge, and I wanted to write something about that.
Series: Wrong side of history [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1470368
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Requesting knowledge

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this! I hope you enjoy it!

_Everyone who wants knowledge prays to Hermaeus Mora. Everyone who wants books prays to Hermaeus Mora. Everyone who searches for power through intellect prays to Hermaeus Mora.  
Sometimes, he listens. He pulls them into his realm and gives them challenges._

____

You never meant to fall, you say. You were walking through the library, looking for a book and suddenly you tripped and fell down into an open trapdoor that had never been there before. You fell into a strange realm, slimy and dark, but you knew. You knew where you were. You knew that the book you sought was in that place. Still, you refused, and you called for Hermaeus Mora.  
"I never meant to fall. I am sorry for intruding. I would like to leave now."  
He talks to you. Tells you: "Why would you leave? This can be your home. You can find whatever you want here."  
You tell him you have people back home, they will miss you, you need to get back.  
He tells you it will only be a while. The book is right here, somewhere, and you can just find it and return. They will never notice you've been gone.  
You turn around and look up longingly. You tell him: "I will not give in. Bring me back."  
He smiles, as far as a mass of tentacles and eyes can smile. "Just search. When you've found it, no one will know you have gone. This is my oath." He disappears into the sky.  
When you are sure he is gone, you stand up. You look around at the real around you. Stacks of books reaching up to a sky which has no limit. Just like knowledge. You walk around and look at the covers. Many have names you can not pronounce, but some are familiar. As you walk on, you notice more and more familiar names. But you don't need familiar. You need that one book, and he will not let you go until you find it.

Time has passed. How long? How far have you walked? When was the last time you ate? You do not know. You have not found the book. Your back hurts from hunching over to find the book, and you remember your mother. She would have scolded you for not taking care of your body, but she is far away now. You will make sure you come back. First, you must find the book. You must find your ticket out.  
Others walk around, just like you. They ignore you. Sometimes, they look at you angrily. You know why. They think you wish to steal their knowledge. You do not. You want the book. That one book. Yet you have not found it. Sometimes, you found other books. They seemed like books you would like to read someday as well. You took them along, for when you get back. They will be interesting lecture later.

Time has passed. You have not found the book. You have found more books, more than you can carry. As you ventured deeper into Apocrypha, you found a secluded place to store your books, to use as your own private library. Temporarily of course. You are still looking for the book. But even as you ventured deeper you did not find it.  
The depths of Apocrypha are strange to you. The outer edges had started to feel comfortable, after a while, but these depths are even stranger than those edges had been. Hermaeus Mora's gaze is felt everywhere. Tentacles and slime cover most of the books, but they have not stained or harmed them. Lurker pools are in every central room of a hall and if you disrespect Hermaeus Mora or his books they appear. You have seen them destroy and kill other seekers. Those other seekers are not longer fully human. Tentacles grow from their face, a hunch has formed on their back and they do not walk anymore.  
You feel this place taking hold over you too. Your hands have become more claw-like, your legs are longer and thinner. The deeper you venture, the more you feel its influence. However, you have not found the book, and so you must venture deeper. You must find the book, to...  
What was the reason for finding the book again? You are certain it was not the knowledge...  
Images flash before your eyes and you suddenly remember the reason. You vaguely remember your family. Your friends. Your home. You think of them, but you can no longer remember their faces. You can barely remember their names. Horrified, you move on. You must find the book. You must find it.  
A soft cackling seems to come from the sky

Time has passed. The book has not been found. Your collection has grown. You are the owner of many books. When others try to come near, you chase them away with claws and magic. The books are yours. No one else's.  
You can finally reach the high books as your legs have given way for something else, tentacles and the power of levitation. To your rage the top shelves also do not hold the book you seek. Nor do the upper levels of the towers in the sea of slime. You search. You need the book. You must find it.

Time passes. Where has the book been hidden? You have searched every shelf. Every stack. They are not findable.  
Someone else must have taken it. They took your book! Your knowledge! Yours! You need to find the stashes of the other Seekers. You are a Seeker, and what's theirs is yours. It is no one else's. You screech and start seeking those stashes. You know they exist.

Time passes. Someone raided your library. They took your books. Where are they? You search through the halls. Other Seekers tell you of a stranger, a human who walked through these walls, searching for a certain book of power. You know where the book they seek is. You had not needed it, so it had remained. Now, you head to it. It is yours now. They took what was yours. Now you shall take what they consider theirs.  
As you reach the book, you see a human in a suit of armor. They look at you, turn around and quickly start reading the book. You stretch out all of your claws at them, but before any of your attacks reach them, they have disappeared into the book. You screech and wail. They took them. They took what's yours! Others come. You screech and wail. They wail along with you. They understand your pain. What is yours is also theirs, after all.

Time passes. You find more books. You still do not find the book. You do not see the human again. You do not care anymore. You will make them pay if they do return, and if they do not, they will not steal your books again. You search for your book. You find more books.  
It is on a certain day when you finally see the book on the bottom of a stack. You pull it out triumphantly, opening it and reading. You close it. What happens now? What would happen? Why was the knowledge in this so important? Why was it needed? When did you start searching for this? You open the book once more, but at the end of it you notice there are pages missing. They are gone. That must have been what you needed! That must have been what you seek! You close the book with a bang and hide it in your cloak. Onward you go. Off to seek the final pages. Off you go. You do not mind. You have time, and time will pass.


End file.
